


I am Eleven

by meowriah



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Upside Down, High School, Morally Ambiguous Character, Powerful Eleven, Smart Eleven
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:47:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28762821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meowriah/pseuds/meowriah
Summary: Since breaking out of the lab four years ago, Eleven has traveled with Kali and made herself a found family. With their quest for revenge coming to an end, Kali and the others think that what's best for Eleven would be a chance at normality. Eleven is more focused on a chance to improve the future for her family, but they come to agreement and Eleven is off to high school under the watch of the only other person they can trust: Jim Hopper.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper & Kali Prasad, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	1. Goodbye, Home

**Author's Note:**

> So a quick few notes:  
> There is no Upside Down in this cause I'm not big on writing monsters.  
> The real monsters are really the people at The Lab, cause in this Eleven was born and raised pretty much as a human weapon. Eleven is smarter and more powerful than in canon cause she was pretty much trained as a spy/weapon thus learned a lot of things like languages, math, so on. She is still extremely socially awkward, but not as naive as she has been travelling with Kali for the past few years. So yeah Eleven will be different than in canon.

Eleven lay back on the mattress that filled the majority of the back of the van, focusing on the movement of the car and Dottie’s fingers running through her hair. She raised her hand up over her head, slim fingers and pastel pink sleeve of her sweater sticking out against the car that was decorated mostly in blacks and reds, and soon another hand joined hers and intertwined their fingers. 

“OK?” Briefly Eleven turned her head to see Mick watching her before she turned back to roof. 

“Ok.” She confirmed, kicking her foot out when Axel slapped her foot.

“Don’t worry about the little mascot, she’s going to school not prison.”

A snort from the front seat and they could hear the deep, “Same difference.” 

As the group jeered at each other around her, comparing high school tragedies, Eleven took the time to savor the warmth from where Mick still held her hand. This was why she was going to Hawkins, no matter what Kali’s reasons were for sending her. Eleven would go, she would “lay low and experience being a teenager”, and she would get a high school degree. With a degree, something none of the others had, Eleven could make money. A better van, better clothes, better food, she could do better for them and all it took was two years in a terrible little town.

Eleven already had a home, she didn’t need anything or anyone else from Hawkins.

“Hey!” The flick to her forehead brought her back to Earth, and she blinked up at Dottie who now kneeled over her. “We’re here!” 

The van squeaked in relief as they all unloaded in front of the old cabin on the outskirts of the town. Eleven floated her suitcase from the top of the van, but jumped, dropping it, when a voice shouted out from the cabin.

“Better start getting used to not using those powers around here.” 

Jim Hopper looked better than the last time Eleven had seen him, but the last time she’d seen him he’d been shoving fake papers into her arms and being left behind to cover up an arson. 

“Take the stick out of your ass, Chief,” Kali snapped, “You live like a hermit, no one will see her.” 

“Not the point. If she can’t keep it hidden privately she’ll slip up in public.” The chief made his way to them, eyeing the gang of criminals and misfits that had shown up on his doorstep. 

Like he remembered Kali, and the two she’d been with last time, had a chaotic energy to them. The two new additions seemed to mimic the rest, all smudged makeup, black clothes and wild eyes. Amongst them Eleven looked like a lamb amongst wolves. The girl was small, at just 5’1, with sun-tanned skin and mid-back length curly hair. In contrast to her friends she was clothed in a soft oversized pink sweater, the front tucked in to baggy high-waisted jeans. 

He could barely see the shadow of the desperate shadow of a girl he’d seen all those years ago. 

“Welcome back to Hawkins, kid.” When Eleven just stared at him, he turned to Kali, “Not much of a talker then?” 

Kali placed a hand on Eleven’s head, ruffling the girl’s hair. “She says what she needs to.”

With that she turned, grabbed Eleven’s suitcase, and headed into the cabin. The other misfits followed after her, all of them clambering to take a look at Eleven’s new temporary accommodations. Hopper watched the chaos descend upon his home, but before he could take a step to go keep the peace he was stopped by a soft voice he’d never heard before. 

“Thank you.”

When he turned back those big brown eyes were staring straight at him. “For the lab. For this...High School.”  
They settled back into silence for a moment before Hopper gave her a nod of acknowledgement, “Your welcome.” 

Eleven hustled past him and disappeared into the house, leaving Hopper to really feel the weight of his decision settle on his shoulders. The girl may look like a lamb, but he knew he’d just invited a wolf into his home. 

\---

For the last time, Eleven lay down in the van, her feet hanging out over the edge of the open back doors, and she laughed as the rest of her family struggled to all fit themselves comfortably around her. Kali pressed in close on her right, Dottie lay draped over Funshine to her left, Axel whined as he squirmed where he was pressed against the wall and Kali’s body and Mick had successfully managed to squeeze herself on the floor at the head of the mattress. Like she used to do back when Eleven would have nightmares, Kali’s illusion of butterflies fluttered around their heads. Safe and sounds Eleven let her eyes close so listed what she loved about her home.

Axel’s shitty cologne.  
The constantly lingering scene of cigarettes and cheap liquor.  
A quiet, but constant, jingling from chains and jewelry.  
The safe feeling she got from someone else’s body pressed firmly against hers.  
The harsh tone of Kali’s ugly laugh.  
The random stickers that covered the roof of their old van.

Eleven was strong, she didn’t need these people to survive, but she wanted them. For her family, her future, and her home she would be better. She would always come back, but first she had to begin with saying goodbye.


	2. Take Care of Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yee haw! So we're going with Mileven, which changes who Eleven first interacts with! (Woulda been Dustin if ya'll had said Max). There will be a backstory chapter on Eleven later on!  
> Also I write these and never reread them so sorry for any mistakes!

‘Another year at Hawkins High.’ Will sighed as he slouched against the bike rack outside of the highschool. The first day of school and his mom dropped him off early cause she had to rush to work, if he wasn’t already at the bottom of the barrel he might have worried about looking like a complete loser. 

He was entering his junior year, but it felt like nothing had changed for him since he was in middle-school. Maybe that wouldn’t have been too bad if he didn’t feel so alone in his failure, but it felt like the rest of his friends were starting to outgrow him. Lucas had joined the football team, and it felt like every time he walked down the hallway he left giggling popular girls trailing behind him. Max had grown into her big personality and mouthy brat had transformed into a fiery beauty. Even Mike had shot up and joined the swim team, his height alone getting him a fair amount of attention. Dustin was really the only one who stayed near Will’s level, but even he had found some level of acceptance with his part time job at the comic book store. Will was still just his short, plain, boring self who hadn’t managed to make any friends outside of the party. 

He didn’t think they’d ever leave him behind, but at this point he didn’t understand why they stuck with him. 

The slam of a car door made him jump, and he looked to see who else was arriving to school an hour early. Seeing the police chief was unexpected, but more interesting was the small girl that trailed closely behind him. Wild curly brown hair caught his eye first, then the baggy overalls and the strange fluffy tank top underneath them. It was only once he found himself looking into large brown eyes that he realized he’d been staring. Worse, he’d been caught staring. 

Unsure what to do Will shakily raised his hand in a barely attempted wave, but as the duo approached the girl simply looked away. 

Off to a good start.

\---

By lunchtime it seemed like everyone in the school had decided the most important topic of discussion was the mysterious new girl. Jane Hopper had strolled into Hawkins High and apparently done her best all morning to make a bad impression on everyone. 

“You should’ve seen it! I swear Stacy looked like she’d just sniffed shit!” Luckily, the cafeteria was as loud as ever, so Dustin’s absolute lack of volume control wasn’t causing any problems. 

“Uh yeah you’re leaving out the part where she blew you off too.” Max added, as the only one who shared Dustin’s History class she had actually been there to witness the incident. 

Dustin shrugged, “Yeah, but she’s like...hot. Hot girls blow me off, I’m used to it. They don’t usually blow Stacy off!”

“Dustin don’t get used to girls treating you badly cause they’re hot,” Lucas interrupted, “It’s fucked up.”

“It’s life, Lucas.”

As the three devolved into a squabble over what made someone hot, Will turned to Mike who had been suspiciously quiet through the whole thing. 

“It’s been a while since we had a new kid, probably not since Max.”  
Mike, who had apparently been completely zoned out, jumped a bit before tuning in. “Uh yeah, I’ve only really seen her in passing. I haven’t shared any classes with her or anything.” His hand came up to tug as his hair, an obvious sign of nervousness, that almost made Will want to laugh at him. 

“And she’s cute?” 

The blush was expected, but no less funny. “I mean, I guess it’s like, yeah she’s um nice...looking.”

The laughter was pretty much uncontrollable at that point. “She’s nice looking!” The smaller boy did his best impression of Mike, or at least the best he could do between the laughter. 

“Mike that was weak, please don’t tell me that’s actually how you talk to girls.” Max added.

Mike’s blush had turned into a full flush of embarrassment. “Why were you listening to that! Weren’t you busy or something?” 

“Too busy to embarrass you? Never.” 

“Oh hello Jane, you’re soooo nice looking can I take you to prom~” 

“Dear Jane, you were ever so nice looking today~”

Somewhere between Mike attempting to disappear into the lunch table and Dustin laughing so hard he choked on his tater tots, Will could almost feel like the unease he’d had about this year melting away.

\---

For the rest of the week, Will had little to no contact with the new student. He did find they shared a gym class and a calculus class, but she seemed intent to not speak with anyone else and Will had no intention of speaking with her. He was pretty sure that eventually everyone would get over the shiny new girl and she’d become another Hawkin’s resident that played no part in his life.

After all, Will had to worry about the residents that played a very big part in his life. A very big, very terrible, part of his life that was the reason why he was currently hiding by the dumpsters. He’d stayed after for AV Club, and maybe he’d lagged behind a little longer than the rest of the party, but next thing he knew the bike rack had pretty much turned into a feeding ground for bullies. It had been Troy who spotted him, the meathead and his two lackeys had wasted absolutely no time in starting the heckling. 

It was hard to tell Troy’s moods, but when Will had tried to get past to reach his bike and the bully had quickly responded with a shove it became obvious this was a “beat down” type of day. He could take it, he had before, but he certainly didn’t want to. 

There was no way he was outrunning the high school athletes, but he could certainly try. It was luck, and his size, that allowed him to squeeze between the dumpsters and hope he wasn’t seen. It was his cursed luck that made him come out of hiding a little too early. 

“Nowhere to run now, loser.” 

It probably wasn’t the time to point out the extremely lame way that Troy talked, but for some reason it was really all Will could focus on as he searched for an escape that wasn’t there. 

The first hit came like a down like a brick, knocking the air out of Will and bringing him to his knees. “Fuck, Troy...wait..” Will struggled to right himself, he scrambled to try and protect his head from whatever would come next, but the next sounds of pain weren’t coming from him.

He rolled onto his side just in time to see backup bully number 2 take a punch directly to the throat, and he had a perfect view to see the leg come straight up between Troy’s legs with enough force to break through wood. A kick to the head followed and the biggest bully was down. Dizzy, Will watched the two backups scramble away to who knows where, before he could really take in his savior.

He’d always wondered if those big action heroes in real life would actually look quite as impressive. With a wide stance, one hand in the pocket of her pink shorts, and a cigarette tucked behind her ear Jane Hopper looked cooler than any action star Will had ever seen on the big screen. For a moment the two just stared at each other before Jane looked at the watch on her wrist. 

“Rule number 3, no fighting in school. You think after school counts?” 

Will stared, and stared, and stared. “I...won’t tell?”

And Jane smiled.


End file.
